1. In the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Legal Advice Department is formed with three divisions as follows:
(a) International Law and ASEAN Legal Affairs Division
(b) Commercial Contracts Division
(c) General Legal Advice Division.
2. Functions of the International Law and ASEAN Legal Affairs Division
(a) vetting and tendering legal advice on the following agreements when so requested by the Ministries of the Union, the Union level organizations, the Office of the Advocate General of the Region or State:
(1) International Conventions and Regional or Bilateral or Multilateral Agreements;
(2) Host Country Agreements of International Organizations in Myanmar;
(3) Agreements on Human Rights;
(4) Agreements on Demarcation and Border Area Management;
(5) Agreements on Bilateral Aviation, Navigation and Transportation;
(6) Agreements on Environmental Conservation;
(7) Agreements on Prevention and Elimination of Narcotic Drugs;
(8) Agreements on Technical and Financial Assistance from International Organizations;
(9) Agreements on Grants by a Non-governmental Organization from a Foreign Country;
(10) Bilateral Agreements on Trade, Investment, Science and Technology, Culture and other Cooperation;
(11) Non-commercial Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, Records of Discussion, Memoranda of Agreement, Agreements on Supply Projects and other Agreements;
(12) Agreements on the Amendment, Addition, Extension and Suspension of the Agreements in the above paragraphs 1 to 11;
(b) undertaking the following international and regional legal affairs when requested by the State Administration Council, the Union Government, the Ministries of the Union, the Union level organizations, the Region or State Governments and when assigned by the Union Minister and Attorney General of the Union:
(1) attending international meetings, and discussing on behalf of the State, reading papers and participating in legal scrubbing process as an expert;
(2) discussing the subject matter on behalf of the State in drafting international or regional agreements;
(3) advising on and discussing the matters, and appearing in cases in which the State is responsible for giving arguments at the International Court of Justice and International Arbitral Tribunal;
(4) discussing State level reports on international, regional or bilateral agreements in which the State is a party, from the legal point of view and advising Union level organizations which are responsible for preparing the reports on behalf of the State;
(5) cooperating with other departments concerning international legal affairs;
(6) providing legal assistance for international legal affairs which are undertaken by the Ministry of Legal Affairs;
(7) participating in pre-negotiation meetings to conclude international and regional agreements;
(8) supporting the Union Minister and Attorney General of the Union, the Deputy Minister and Deputy Attorney General, the Director General and law officers assigned by them in undertaking international and regional legal affairs that is a special duty for them.
3. Functions of the Commercial Contracts Division
(a) attending the coordination meetings to discuss legal matters on commercial contracts when so invited by the relevant departments;
(b) tendering legal advice on the following (draft) commercial contracts after scrutinizing these contracts when so requested by the relevant government departments and organizations;
(1) joint-venture agreements;
(2) constitution;
(3) land lease agreements, building lease agreement;
(4) build, operate, and transfer contracts;
(5) supply contracts;
(6) loan agreements;
(7) production sharing contracts on exploration and extraction of petroleum, gas and mineral;
(8) commercial instruments and memoranda of understanding;
(9) consultancy contracts;
(10) sale contracts;
(11) construction contracts;
(12) tender documents;
(13) share purchase agreements and share transfer agreements in which the Government is a party under the Myanmar Companies Law;
(14) other commercial instruments;
(c) tendering legal advice on the legal matters arising from the terms and conditions of the contract after executing the above mentioned commercial contracts;
(d) issuing a legal opinion after scrutinizing whether necessary commercial contracts including loan agreements for a particular project and the related documents are to be in accordance with the law or not;
(e) vetting the commercial contracts (final draft) coordinated between the department and company, acting as a representative of each government department, tendering necessary legal advice, vetting whether the terms and conditions of the contract may affect the interest of the department and whether they are fair to both parties.
4. Functions of the General Legal Advice Division
(a) vetting and tendering legal advice on matters which are not concerning tendering legal advice before prosecution under the provisions of subsection (c) of section 12 of the Attorney General of the Union Law and rules 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58;
(b) veting and tendering legal advice on matters requested by the President of the Union, the Speaker of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw or the Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw, any Union level organization, any Ministry of the Union or Union Territory Administrative Body in accordance with sub rule (a) of rule 53 of the Attorney General of the Union Rules;
(c) vetting and tendering legal advice when guidance has been requested by the Office of the Advocate General of the Region or State under sub rule (b) of rule 53 of the Attorney General of the Union Rules;
(d) supervising the different levels of law office to tender legal advice and general legal advice in accordance with the stipulations in a timely manner before prosecution under subsection (n) of section 12 of the Attorney General of the Union Law, and to revise it in accordance with law.